Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

About the Foundation

Mission: On its website states that "There are two simple values that lie at the core of the foundation’s work: All lives—no matter where they are being led—have equal value; To whom much has been given, much is expected. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to reduce inequities and improve lives around the world." [1]

Program areas: In developing countries, it focuses on improving health, reducing extreme poverty, and increasing access to technology in public libraries. In the United States, the foundation seeks to ensure that all people have access to a great education and to technology in public libraries. In its local region, it focuses on improving the lives of low-income families.

Controversies

Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council

In November 2011, the Gates Foundation made a $376,635 grant to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which it claims was "to educate and engage its membership on more efficient state budget approaches to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement."[3] In April 2012, during a public campaign by public interest groups targeting ALEC supporters and urging them to cut ties with ALEC, during which the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) specifically targeted the foundation, Gates spokesman Chris Williams told the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call, that it does not plan to make future grants to the conservative nonprofit and specifically noted that the foundation was never a dues-paying member of ALEC.[4] Williams also told BuzzFeed that the foundation does not plan to withdraw that grant "for now. . . . We have already paid out a significant portion of it," he said.[5]

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Investment in Monsanto, BP and Other Controversial Corporations

Concerns have been raised about the decision of the Gates to invest in Monsanto. [6] Reportedly, the shares are valued at $23 million. Monsanto has been involved in numerous controversial agri-business activities, including genetic engineering of seeds and efforts to use a "terminator" gene to control germination.[7]

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also a major investor in BP, with nearly 43 million shares, a company whose lax regulatory record has been seen as a big factor in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.[8] The Nation reported that as of December 2012, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had at least $958.6 million invested in BP and ExxonMobil.[9]

The Foundation has also given $300,000 to the US-based geoengineering research body Silver Lining, which is developing machines to convert seawater into microscopic particles to be sprayed into clouds, to reflect more sunlight back into space in an effort to mitigate the worst effects of global warming. The Gates-backed sea trial would be the largest known attempt to geoengineer the climate so far, reported to be conducted over an area of 10,000km2. Campaigners say such a large-scale trial is 'risky' and that a global ban on geoengineering experiments should be put in place until regulations governing the sector can be introduced.[10]Bill Gates has also given $4.5 million to Harvard climate researcher David Keith of Carbon Engineering to fund research on planet-cooling ideas.[11]

Promotion of Genetic Engineering

The Gates Foundation promotes and funds genetic engineering projects. For example, the foundation's Grand Challenge #9 is to "Create a Full Range of Optimal, Bioavailable Nutrients in a Single Staple Plant Species."[12] While the foundation would accept projects using conventional plant breeding techniques, the four projects they are funding all use biotechnology: Golden Rice[13], genetically engineered cassava[14], sorghum[15], and bananas.[16]

Funding controversial education organization Teach for America

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is among the numerous right-wing foundation and corporate donors to the non-profit education organization Teach for America. Teach for America has received criticism from the Center for Media and Democracy and others as it is "backed by a number of right-wing interests that have bankrolled the conservative push to privatize, voucherize, and generally dismantle free and universal public education in America". [17] Between 2011 and 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated between $1 million and $5 million to Teach for America.[18]